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By Tierney Sneed, CNN

(CNN) — A new lawsuit filed in Washington, DC’s federal court Monday challenges the Kennedy Center board of trustees’ move to add President Donald Trump’s name to the cultural institution.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and an ex-officio trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is bringing the lawsuit. She alleges a recent vote by the Center’s board of trustees to add Trump’s name went beyond the authority given to the board by Congress.

“This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order,” she wrote in the filing.

Her complaint repeated an account she gave on social media of being muted via Zoom during the board meeting last week when she tried to speak up in objection to the vote. She said in the lawsuit that the vote and the addition of Trump’s name to the physical building the day after were “scenes more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic.”

Beatty is being represented by Democracy Defenders Action and the Washington Litigation Group. There had not been any request for emergency intervention filed to the case’s docket as of Monday evening.

CNN has reached out to the White House and Kennedy Center for comment.

“Only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center. President Trump and his cronies must not be allowed to trample federal law and bypass Congress to feed his ego,” Beatty said in a statement. “This entire process has been a complete disgrace to this cherished institution and the people it serves. These unlawful actions must be blocked before any further damage is done.”

Congress renamed the arts center after former President John F. Kennedy in legislation passed after his 1963 assassination, and federal law requires that the board “assure that after December 2, 1983, no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”

Experts told CNN last week that while the board’s decision was likely unlawful, it’s unclear whether someone looking to challenge the move would have the legal right – known as “standing” – to even pursue such a case. “There is absolutely no way they can do this legally,” said David Super, a professor at Georgetown Law who specializes in legislation. But, he added, “the administration is not concerning itself with laws unless it has a realistic prospect of getting sued.”

New signage featuring the president’s name was installed the day after the vote.

Trump has touted his influence on the performing arts center, and he claimed last week that the institution is experiencing “record-setting numbers” in donors.

“We’re saving the building. We saved the building. The building was in such bad shape, both physically, financially and every other way. And now it’s very solid, very strong,” he said.

CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.

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The post Democratic lawmaker brings lawsuit challenging move to add Trump’s name to Kennedy Center appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Por Samantha Delouya, CNN

A menudo tendido desde postes de servicios públicos o enterrado bajo nuestros pies, el cable de cobre ha desempeñado un papel fundamental en el suministro de energía a la red eléctrica de Estados Unidos durante más de un siglo.

Sin embargo, robos cada vez más descarados están amenazando la red, con ladrones que se suben al techo de los autos para cortar líneas telefónicas o que abren alcantarillas a plena luz del día para extraer el cableado de cobre.

Los efectos se han sentido en todo el país: carreteras y puentes que quedan a oscuras, llamadas al 911 que no logran conectarse y facturas de servicios públicos más altas a medida que los costos de reemplazo se trasladan a los consumidores.

El precio del cobre ha impulsado los robos, dijo un detective del Departamento del Sheriff de Los Ángeles que solicitó el anonimato debido a la naturaleza encubierta de su función.

Este año, los precios del cobre han alcanzado máximos históricos debido a un aumento en la construcción de nuevos centros de datos y la especulación sobre nuevos aranceles por parte del Gobierno de Trump, según JPMorgan. En Estados Unidos, los precios del cobre han subido más del 30 % este año.

Los Ángeles se ha convertido en uno de los puntos críticos del país para el robo de cable de cobre. Mientras la ciudad se recupera de los incendios forestales más destructivos en una generación y se prepara para albergar la Copa Mundial este verano y los Juegos Olímpicos en 2028, en muchos lugares apenas logra mantener las luces encendidas. La ciudad y las compañías de servicios públicos gastan millones cada año reparando los daños.

Hubo más de 15.000 ataques destructivos a nivel nacional en redes de comunicación domésticas entre junio de 2024 y junio de 2025, siendo el robo de cobre un factor importante, según el grupo comercial de la industria de televisión e Internet, NCTA. Más de 9.5 millones de clientes se vieron afectados, y California y Texas reunieron más de la mitad de los incidentes.

“Esto no ocurre solo una vez a la semana o una vez al mes”, dijo el detective del Departamento de la Policía de Los Ángeles sobre los robos de cobre. “Estas cosas suceden a diario”.

Cuando Los Ángeles inauguró su recién construido Puente de la Calle Sexta, en 2022, el lugar fue aclamado como un nuevo hito de la ciudad. Por la noche, el puente de más de un kilómetro, con amplias aceras peatonales, se iluminaba con colores LED cambiantes.

Tres años después, el puente permanece a oscuras.

Los ladrones robaron más de 11 kilómetros de cable de cobre del puente, causando daños por US$ 2.5 millones, según Mark González, el asambleísta local que representa a la zona.

“Tenemos muchos incidentes solo en nuestras áreas cada día. Se acumulan”, dijo el detective encubierto del Departamento de la Policía de Los Ángeles, y agregó que los sitios de construcción en la ciudad, donde se están reconstruyendo casas después de que los incendios de Palisades y Eaton en enero destruyeran más de 16.000 viviendas y estructuras, son objetivos frecuentes para los ladrones.

Es muy difícil rastrear el cobre desnudo robado, dijo el detective a CNN. Mientras que algunas compañías de telecomunicaciones usan recubrimiento de papel de colores para ayudar a identificar sus cables, el cableado de la ciudad es menos fácil de identificar. Cualquier solución sería costos

Por Clay Voytek, CNN

Las Fuerzas Armadas de Estados Unidos realizaron un ataque contra una “embarcación de bajo perfil” que presuntamente traficaba drogas en el océano Pacífico oriental este lunes, en el que murió una persona, según el Comando Sur de EE.UU.

“El 22 de diciembre, por orden del secretario de Defensa, Pete Hegseth, la Fuerza de Tarea Conjunta Southern Spear llevó a cabo un ataque letal contra una embarcación de bajo perfil operada por organizaciones designadas como terroristas en aguas internacionales”, publicó el Comando Sur en X.

El Comando Sur agregó que ningún militar estadounidense resultó herido en la operación.

Al menos 105 personas han muerto en ataques contra embarcaciones sospechosas de tráfico de drogas como parte de la campaña denominada Operación Southern Spear, que el Gobierno de Trump afirma busca frenar el narcotráfico. Las Fuerzas Armadas estadounidenses atacaron la semana pasada dos embarcaciones presuntamente dedicadas al tráfico de drogas en el Pacífico oriental, matando a cinco personas.

Noticia en desarrollo…

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The post EE.UU. ataca una embarcación en el Pacífico oriental y mata a una persona appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Clay Voytek, CNN

(CNN) — The US military conducted a strike against a “low-profile vessel” allegedly trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing one person, according to US Southern Command.

“On Dec. 22, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” SOUTHCOM wrote on X.

SOUTHCOM added no US service members were harmed in the strike.

At least 105 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats as part of a campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking. The US military most recently struck two alleged drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean last week, killing 5 people.

The administration has labeled those killed “unlawful combatants” and claimed the ability to engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.

The strikes are part of increased US military action in South America in recent months amid a pressure campaign on Venezuela, a nation that President Donald Trump has accused of stealing US “oil, land and other assets.”

Trump last week ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela. The US has so far intercepted two other tankers off the coast of Venezuela this month and remains in pursuit of another. Those interdictions have come amid a massive US naval and troop buildup in the Caribbean as Trump applies pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, including those attempts to cut off his oil revenues.

Trump on Monday declined to answer a question about his endgame in Venezuela, even as he again raised the threat of land strikes and said it’d be “smart” for Maduro to step down.

“There’s no answer. He can do whatever he wants. We have a massive armada — the biggest we’ve ever had, and the biggest we’ve ever had in South America,” Trump said. “He can do whatever he wants. It’s all right, whatever he wants to do. If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’d be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”

Venezuela claimed on Monday that the naval blockade ordered by the United States would disrupt global energy supplies in a letter signed by Maduro and read by Foreign Minister Yván Gil.

Maduro also criticized the US military deployment in the Caribbean, which the US has said is aimed at co